India's Native Payment Channel: [This Week] RBI Branch Reforms, Barcode Payment Interconnection Welcomes Further Developments

This week's column for Mobile Payment Network focuses on hot topics in the mobile payments industry, covering a wide range of technology innovations and applications. Click on the title to read the original article.

**People's Bank of China officially inaugurates 31 provincial branches**

On 18 August, the People's Bank of China's 31 provincial (autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government) branches, as well as branches in the five planned cities of Shenzhen, Dalian, Ningbo, Qingdao and Xiamen, and 317 prefectural and municipal branches completed the unified signboard process. Each provincial branch now carries the signboard of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, and provincial and autonomous region branches have additional signboards for the Branch Business Management Department.

The move marks the end of the regional branching system, which lasted more than 20 years, and a return to branching.

**Analysis of fines issued by the People's Bank of China, Head Office**

There's more to know about the fines issued by the PBOC's head office.

Hundred Credit became the first market-based personal credit agency to be fined; the total number of fines was not large, with more than half targeting banks; most commercial banks were fined at the "head office" level. Two payment institutions were fined large amounts. Unusual fines for payment institutions.

**Key tasks of the People's Bank of China Guangzhou Branch in the second half of the year**

On 15 August, the Guangzhou Branch of the People's Bank of China (PBOC) held a working meeting for the second half of 2023 to summarise the work of the first half of the year and deploy key tasks for the second half of the year.

The meeting stressed the need to promote a three-year special campaign against money-laundering and related crimes. Emphasis was also placed on combating "money chains" linked to gambling and fraud, promoting innovative payment businesses, advancing digital RMB pilot projects, expanding the use of cross-border RMB, comprehensively promoting mobile payments in rural towns and cities, leveraging cross-border financial services platforms, and expanding and improving pilot projects to facilitate foreign exchange payments for high-quality enterprises.

**WeChat Pay and Alipay achieve barcode payment interoperability**

Currently, Alipay App users are supported nationwide to scan the WeChat Pay personal collection code for payment.

It is worth noting that WeChat Pay has previously completed system integration and business verification with the National Internet Finance Association, and the barcode payment interoperability between WeChat Pay and Alipay was achieved through the Association's channels.

**58.com may acquire an internet payment licence**

Third-party payment provider Centpay registered two equity pledges on 10 August 2023

The pledgees are 58.com's affiliates - Five Eight Digital and Five Eight Microfinance. Interestingly, as early as June last year, another shareholder of Shengpai Tong, Yili Resources Group Limited, also pledged 22.5 million shares to Five Eight Microfinance.

**Two payment institutions fined**

On 16 August, the Hangzhou Central Sub-branch of the People's Bank of China (PBOC) updated its information on administrative penalties, and two payment institutions were fined.

Huatong Payment was fined RMB 210,000 for failing to fulfil its customer identity verification obligations, and its head, Song Jinyao, was fined RMB 11,500 for being responsible for the violation. Centpay was fined RMB 380,000 for six violations, including failure to establish relevant systems or risk management measures.

**Two banks received anti-fraud fines, both "double fines "**

On 11 August, the People's Bank of China's Fuzhou Central Sub-branch updated information on new administrative penalties, with two banks being fined for ineffective anti-fraud work.

Quanzhou Bank was warned and fined RMB 4.265 million for 14 illegal acts, including mismanagement of fraud-related accounts. Fujian Fuzhou Huitong Rural Commercial Bank was fined 1.55 million yuan for four illegal acts, including mismanagement of fraud-related accounts.

**Supports Shanghai and Suzhou to jointly conduct a digital RMB pilot**

On 16 August, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) released Measures on Further Enhancing the Capabilities of Hongqiao International Open Hub, which mentioned supporting Shanghai and Suzhou to jointly carry out a digital RMB pilot project to promote open innovation scenarios and application interconnections.

In fact, Shanghai and Suzhou have already jointly launched a digital RMB campaign in 2021.

**Beijingdong launches "pay-as-you-go" function**

Recently, according to the news released by Jingmai Merchant Centre WeChat public number, Jingdong WeChat small program is cooperating with WeChat Pay to test the function of "use first and pay later", aiming to provide Jingdong WeChat small program users with a new payment experience.

"Use first, pay later" is a marketing tool provided by Jingdong's app for merchants, allowing users with high credit scores to place orders for their favourite products at zero cost, and experience them before paying. Three days after the consumer actively confirms receipt of goods or logistics signing, WeChat Pay will deduct the payment without a password.

**Tencent Earnings Report Discusses Payment Business***

On 16 August, Tencent released its second quarter 2023 financial report. The financial report shows that Tencent achieved revenue of 149.208 billion yuan, up 11% year-on-year; net profit was 37.548 billion yuan, up 33% year-on-year.

The earnings report noted that commercial payments revenue grew as consumer spending increased, while the wealth management business expanded in terms of user base and asset management. Revenue from the financial technology and corporate services business rose 15% year-on-year to $48.6bn.

**New Globe Financial Report: $1.08 Trillion in Transactions Processed by Carlisle Payments**

New Guobao achieved operating revenue of 1.96 billion yuan in the first half of 2023, down 7.69% year-on-year; net profit attributable to shareholders was 333 million yuan, up 71.04% year-on-year.During the reporting period, the overseas strategy of New Guobao's payment business yielded good results, with overseas revenue from the electronic payment equipment business reaching 466 million yuan, up 77.39% year-on-year. Overseas market shipments reached 3,428,100 units, a year-on-year increase of 422.51%.

Subsidiary Jia Lian Payment achieved operating revenue of 1.34 billion yuan and net profit of 201 million yuan in the first half of 2023, with a cumulative transaction volume of about 1.08 trillion yuan processed. Jia Lian Payment's net profit increased by 47.31% year-on-year.

**PayPal appoints new CEO**

PayPal has named Alex Chriss, an executive at US tax software firm Intuit, as its next CEO as it looks to capture a bigger share of the small business payments market.

Chriss will replace Dan Schulman, PayPal's current CEO, who will remain as a director.PayPal announced earlier this year that Schulman, 65, would retire in the coming months.

**Payments company Adyen shares plummet**

Adyen, the global payments company, announced that its first-half profit fell short of expectations as slower revenue growth and employment costs hurt profits. As a result, Adyen shares plunged 38.98% to close at €898.40 on 17 August.

The market is concerned that the previously popular digital payments sector may be overvalued, with the overall outlook for high-growth businesses turning pessimistic.

**Discover CEO resigns**

Discover President and CEO Roger Hochschild abruptly announced his resignation from his current position to become a consultant to the company to ensure a smooth transition of operations.

John Owen, Discover's Chief Operating Officer and member of the Board of Directors, has been named Interim CEO and President, effective immediately.

**Paypal International released**

On 17 August, the annual Alipay Partner Conference was held in Hangzhou, where the new Alipay International Edition was released.

In addition, upgrades were announced for the business promotion platform, small programmes and Sesame Credit. Meanwhile, to better support the digital transformation of the service industry, Alipay updated two major platform support policies, increasing traffic incentives for small and medium-sized merchants and providing 1 billion yuan in resources to help service providers grow.

**WeChat Payment Platform Revised Relevant Agreements**

On 15 August, WeChat Payment Platform of CaiPayment Technology Co., Ltd. issued a notice of revision of the relevant agreement.

The amendments include: 1. updating the term "e-commerce platform" to "platform merchant"; 2. adding provisions on the management method of H5 payment; 3. adding provisions on the responsibility of platform authentication; and 4. adding provisions on the authorisation of secondary platform merchants.

**International Payments Reports Q2 Results**

Recently, major international payment companies released their Q2 earnings reports, and the following summary provides a brief look at global payment revenues.

Visa's total payment volume rose 91 TP3T year-over-year to $31.7 trillion. mastercard's quarterly net income rose 141 TP3T year-over-year to $6.3 billion. payPal's second-quarter net income was $7.3 billion, with a net profit of $1.029 billion. American Express reported quarterly revenue of $15.05 billion and net income of $2.174 billion.

**PingPong becomes 1688's first external payment partner**

PingPong has entered into a partnership with Alibaba's 1688, becoming 1688's first external cross-border payment partner.

Through API integration, PingPong will provide 1688 platform buyers with a more convenient cross-border procurement payment experience. Within one month of the launch, the procurement transactions under this mode have exceeded 100 million yuan.

**Recruitment of "Digital RMB Experience Officers" for the Asian Games**

The six cities in Zhejiang Province hosting the Asian Games (Hangzhou, Ningbo, Wenzhou, Huzhou, Shaoxing and Jinhua) have been included in the digital RMB pilot project. In order to create a strong atmosphere for the pilot project and to support the hosting of the event, the "Welcome to the Asian Games Digital RMB Experience Officer" activity will be held in the six hosting cities from 17th August to 31st August, 2023 Events.

The campaign will recruit 19,600 "Digital RMB Experience Officers" in the host cities and distribute 120 RMB unlimited digital RMB experience bonus. Experience Officers who provide feedback will have the opportunity to receive an additional RMB 60 unlimited Digital RMB incentive.

**Luohu Releases Digital RMB Policy, Multiple Incentives Available**

On 14 August, the Financial Services Bureau of Luohu District released "Measures for High-Quality Construction of Digital RMB Application Ecosystem Demonstration Area in Luohu District".

For digital RMB operators that carry out the transformation of digital RMB payment terminals for aggregated payments for enterprises and merchants in their jurisdictions, the Bureau will provide an annual subsidy of up to 1 million RMB as a percentage of the cost of the terminals based on the promotion.

**Central Bank of India Adds Artificial Intelligence to Real-Time Payments**

Recently, the Reserve Bank of India announced a series of fintech developments, including the inclusion of AI-powered "conversational" payments in India's UPI real-time payments system.

The service will be available to the public through UPI channels on smartphones and mobile, in both Hindi and English.